


Ember

by Shulik



Series: Big sister, big problem. [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hale Family Feels, Laura Hale kicks ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:56:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shulik/pseuds/Shulik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course, <i>of course</i> her baby brother would take this moment to look tortured and a little bit like he was about to snap, instead of opening his mouth and reassuring Stiles of his place in the pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ember

Stiles keeps glaring at her. 

In between all of Scott’s very pointed ignoring of Laura, Stiles keeps going out of his way to make sure that she knows just _how_ pissed he is with her. 

She’d feel bad about how things ended up, but Laura is a Hale first and foremost and she has other priorities. Other things to think of, besides two pissed off teenagers.

So Laura smiles at Stiles, despite his very angry huffing and she smiles at Scott, whose eyes glow a little bit when he’s in her class and if her grin goes a little more feral with the young wolf- well, that’s between her and her god. 

Laura’s never been one for introspection, the whole ‘brooding in the dark’ thing has always been more of Derek’s thing anyway. She knows what needs to be done and she’ll be damned if the change of her position within the pack is going to stop her from doing it. 

Her brother might be the alpha now, but Laura’s been running the show for too long to let him mess it up. 

 

+

 

Laura stared at the blackened wall in front of her, where Ani’s old Jonas Brothers posters used to hang- the ones that Josh and Derek had helped her put up, both of her brothers making fun of Ani’s terrible taste in music while the girl in question ordered them around. 

Ani had been wearing her pink tiara that day, the one dad had bought her for her sixth birthday. The one she would regularly wear for about a month before forgetting it in the back of her closet and then remembering it again. 

She could see pieces of the old wallpaper peeking through, the one her mom had made her come with her to buy. Laura had whined about the rose design, seventeen and indignant about having to spend time with her mother when a boy from math class had been asking her out for weeks. 

Two years later, her mother would be dead and Laura wouldn’t remember the name of that boy. 

She had headed upstairs when the kids began to pull into the driveway, or what was left of it, still seething from her fight with Derek. Her brother, who was a stubborn asshole in the best of times had apparently become a raging dick, who in the one week that she had been back, would veer wildly between being almost desperately needy and following her everywhere and sullenly angry if she decided to ask about what the hell the town had been up to since she had been in the ground. When she had questioned him about his reasoning behind giving the bite to a bunch of hormonal teenagers, Derek had gotten defensive and angry so fast that it almost gave Laura whiplash. 

They hadn’t argued per se, Derek was still too raw around her, almost desperate in the way he would constantly shadow her steps, staring at her with desolation and trembling hands. Laura didn’t like to think about it, but the look in her brother’s eyes, the constant battle between hope and terror- she could see that he was expecting to lose her again at any moment. 

More than anything, more than the turned adolescents and the town that smelled of violence and blood- it was Derek himself who turned Laura’s stomach with worry. Made her wolf howl and keen, louder than it had been in a good long while. 

Her baby brother had never been loud, the youngest boy in a family of rambunctious werewolves- Derek had always gotten flak for preferring books to lacrosse games with Josh and Mikey in the backyard. He was still athletic, all of them were but if it had been up to him- Derek would never leave the breakfast nook in their kitchen, the sunniest spot of the house where he would curl up with a good book and watch their mother puttering around. Even Anise had been more likely to bound off into the woods than him, try and seek adventure and trouble. 

Derek had always been content to be home, under their mother’s fond gaze, surrounded by the smells of pack and family. 

_This_ version of him; angry, sarcastic and practically reeking of silent guilt- Laura would _bleed_ to know what had happened to Derek. 

The yelling out in the front was enough to break Laura out of her funk and she jerked forward, instinctually baring her teeth before she recognized that none of the scents outside screamed of trouble. Still, curious, she made her way down. 

The kiddies were all tense, circled around Derek who was shirtless _yet again_ like he had developed an allergy to clothing in the year and a half that Laura had been gone. Derek, who was scowling at the angry teenager yelling like it was going out of style. 

Moppy hair, dark eyes filled with righteous indignation and an uneven jaw, the fact that the kid smelled like Allison’s faded scent- from Lydia’s stories in the dead of night, Laura could see how Scott McCall might present a problem to them. 

He didn’t seem intentionally malicious, just pissed off and filled with the teenage conviction that only he had the right answers. 

Laura listened to him shout about Derek’s decision-making skills, or _complete_ lack of them, saying that Derek’s mistakes were what kept Scott from being in his pack and how he’d rather take his chances with being an omega than ever forgive Derek for stealing his chance for a cure. 

Laura had no idea what he was on about, _what_ cure- Lydia hadn’t known that side of the story and hence hadn’t told her about it, but enough was enough. 

The kid, _Scott_ \- Laura thought, remembering Derek’s dark face when she had questioned him about who the bite that started the whole thing was, he was probably insignificant in and of himself and at any other time, Laura would have walked away and left him to his tantrum. 

Instead, she walked out into the sun, watching the expression on Derek’s face. 

Half-angry belligerence and half poorly hidden hurt, Derek might have been an asshat to her but he was still Laura’s little brother and she wasn’t about to let some little twerp with an uneven jaw and jumped up ideas hurt his feelings. 

“So then, why are you here?” she cocked her head and watched Scott stumble forward. 

Of course. Of course the kid had ideas about surviving on his own but he still wasn’t able to sense her arrival. 

“What?” Scott growled back at her, stupidly leaving his bare back to Derek. 

That was strike two. 

“Well,” Laura motioned over at her brother whose eyes were glinting red in the dying sunlight. “If _he’s_ such an idiot, and _this_ ,” she waved over at the silent wolves around them, “isn’t your pack then I have to wonder… Why are you here Scott?” 

The kid was gaping at her and Laura frowned, taking a step forward to emphasize her point. “I’m thinking that’s because Derek’s been allowing you to run your mouth, he’s been allowing you to come to _pack_ meetings and disregard all of the rules and why is that?” 

A human, buzzcut and with a familiar pair of flashing amber eyes jumped into the fray. 

Bursting with more anger than one of his kind should be able to contain in such a skinny little body, he thrust a finger at her- “ _hey!_ Those of us that haven’t been around for a year of Derek’s increasingly terrible mistakes should probably keep their opinions to themselves. And the reason why he keeps Scott around is because Scotty’s a better werewolf than _anyone_ in this clearing,” the kid was practically broadcasting loyal anger to anyone with a supernatural nose. 

Laura could respect that if it wasn’t for one thing. 

Derek, who flinched at the kid’s words, paling with what Laura knew as his guiltiest face. 

Alright, so baby brother had probably done some very stupid things since she had last seen him but Laura knew him, knew him down to his last drop of blood and she didn’t doubt that whatever fuck ups Derek was currently blaming himself for- he had the right intentions at the time. 

“Alright,” Laura bared her teeth at the kid, “you’re probably right,” she said. “This one,” she flashed a warm grin at her brother, “he’s not the brightest crayon in the box, but he’s a quick learner and oh-“ she held up a finger and between one blink and the next, her eyesight went fully sepia and she knew that she was flashing some serious blue at the poor kid, “he’s still our alpha. _He’s_ the head of the pack and maybe your friend is right, maybe he’s screwed up. But guess what? I’m back and _all_ the things that Derek might not know,” all of the amusement bled out of her, “ _I_ do. 

“Fine,” Scott had snapped out, eyes flashing bright yellow- “you don’t need us, we don’t need you.” 

At his words, Laura could feel her fangs descending and she smiled- feral and a little mean. Tired of all the teenage bullshit and frankly already exhausted by the week that she had been back. She had forgotten how hard it was, dealing with human emotion, had forgotten how difficult her brother could be and Laura didn’t want to think about _how_ she could forget all of that- but the fact remained that she had been gone for some time and while life had _clearly_ gone on for the Beacon Hills residents- Laura herself had been at peace. 

“Oh honey,” she said gently to Scott before turning away, “I only meant _you_ ” and looked right at Stiles. 

Stiles, who Lydia had explained in as much detail as she could. Stiles, who had convinced himself of his love for her and had stubbornly clung to the unattainable version of Lydia Martin- not the real girl. Stiles, who was apparently more loyal than most wolves Laura had known, who had thrown himself in danger again and again just to protect Scott and Derek’s pack. 

Stiles, who in his own words, wasn’t a hero. 

He was already pack. 

Scott snarled at her, baring his fangs before he whirled around and began storming off into the woods. 

Laura watched him go for a second before turning to Stiles who, conflicted, was alternating between staring at them and then back at his best friend’s retreating figure. 

“Um,” he tilted his neck, scratching his short, almost shorn scalp- “I’m with Scotty. That’s always been my deal, he’s my best friend. That’s the only reason why I’m here,” he exhaled and looked right at Derek who hadn’t spoken once since Laura had descended in a blaze of righteous fury. “I’m here to keep Scott alive.” 

Laura glanced over her shoulder, following Stiles’ line of sight and then sighed. 

Of course, _of course_ her baby brother would take this moment to look tortured and a little bit like he was about to snap, instead of opening his mouth and reassuring Stiles of his place in the pack. 

Stiles, who was practically _reeking_ of confused emotions. 

Laura discreetly scented the air and then had to restrain herself to crowing internally. 

Stiles smelled angry, confused, betrayed but undercutting the smells of his feelings on behalf of his friend, there was the scent of lust and something sweeter. 

Gentler. 

Derek was still glowering at the world like it was betraying him by allowing Scott McCall to exist in it with his big mouth, so Laura took control once again. 

Forever a big sister, she smiled- “Stiles, it’s fine. You can go after your friend, make sure he’s okay, but just know that you’ll _always_ have a place in the pack. With us.” 

Thankfully, his intelligence hadn’t been over exaggerated, Stiles turned to Derek. “Is that true?” 

“Yes,” Derek said after a pause, speaking like it was paining him – “it’s true.” 

There was a collective exhale in the clearing and Laura cracked a small grin, watching the suddenly relaxed postures of the other teenagers around them. The ones who had been watching all of this go down, the ones now staring at her with something like respect and a little bit of fear. 

“Alright,” Stiles nodded slowly before licking his lips, and oh god- Laura desperately wanted to work on her denial skills if that spike of lust, the one that smelled so familiar was anything to go by. 

Because she was, apparently a masochist, as well as a recently resurrected member of society, she shot a quick look over her shoulder just in time to catch Derek staring at Stiles’ mouth, more wolf than man. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Stiles said before shooting Laura another disgruntled look and slowly loping off into the woods. 

Laura snorted before making the executive decision to act like an adult in this situation, especially since Derek had now apparently decided to forever be a petulant teenager with the power of an alpha werewolf. She moved to stand behind him, a little to the right- a symbolic position of her place within the pack. 

With her gesture, it was as if all of the negativity filling Derek had drained. He looked down at her, a quizzical quirk to one of his bushy eyebrows- the ones that both Mikey and dad had. And Laura, for the first time in a while didn’t feel like a shard of glass had been stabbed through her. She looked up at her brother, the kid that was so trusting and who had never really learned to make friends, the kid now stuck with more responsibility than he had ever been trained for and Laura smiled at him. 

Derek’s ensuing grin was blinding and when he looked away from her, at his rag-tag pack of teenage wolves, Laura could see how startled they all were. 

Derek’s grins transformed his face. 

“Alright, listen up everyone-“ he raised his voice and the teens leaned forward, a subconscious instinct and Laura felt warm at the sight of their eager faces and how loose, relaxed their bodies now were. 

“This is my sister,” Derek said and Laura stepped forward, grinned her own version of the Hale smile and gave the kids a small wave, “this is my second in command. If you have any questions that you can’t ask me, you can ask Laura.” He took a deep breath, “if you think that I’m screwing up but you’re too scared to talk to me, you can talk to Laura.” 

“If you’re in trouble and I can’t get to you, Laura will.” 

Laura took a long look at the faces in the pack, Isaac who she had seen skulking around the house, flittering from shadow to shadow with bright blue eyes as gentle as a lamb’s. 

Boyd, who Laura had only seen twice and both times he had seemed like a rock to her. Solid and dependable and still wallowing in guilt. 

Erica, who was wearing way too much makeup for somebody that was going to be running through the woods- standing with her hip cocked and a confident smirk on her lips that would crack whenever she thought no one was looking. 

And Jackson, Lydia’s Jackson who was an enigma all on his own and who, Laura privately thought, would make an excellent third in command. His posture screamed of cockiness and the douchebag sweater didn’t help, but he had an intelligent, sharp look in his eyes and Laura suddenly understood that Jackson probably saw more than most people. 

She suddenly saw what Lydia saw in him and a part of her, the part that had never really forgotten any Disney film she watched and who used to unironically re-watch Nora Ephron films and weep during the happy endings- that part of Laura understood why Lydia was ready to raise a stranger from the dead on the off-chance of it providing more protection for herself and her mate. 

Laura gently shoved Derek out of the way before shooting him a quick grin, “as our magnificent alpha has already mentioned,” she winked at the kids, “I’m Laura. I’m his big sister, so what that means is that he’s obligated to at least _listen_ to me. Besides all of the life threatening adventures that I’ll be rescuing you from,” she saw Isaac snort before muffling the sound with his jacket, “I’m also just here. If you want to talk, I’ll be here. If you want to come and eat our food and watch trashy daytime tv, well-“ Laura watched Erica’s eyes flash with interest, “you’ll have to fight me for the remote, because my tv viewing habits are hard to break but I’ll welcome the fight. If you want to go somewhere and do something teenager-ish with a twenty six year old woman whining every step of the way like go the mall, go eat ice cream, watch a terrible horror movie or go _ice skating_ ” Boyd’s lips twitched, a pleased curl flooding his shoulders, “well, I can do that too.” 

As she spoke, Laura could see the teens shifting in place, she could smell the change in the air- the restlessness of their wolves disappearing and the pack bond solidifying even more. As each of them relaxed a little bit more, Laura could feel it, that warmth in her chest, like a miniature sun about to go supernova- it grew and it hardened. 

Whatever short term pain she caused by getting in the middle of Derek and Scott would be offset by the long-term benefits of the act. A fractured pack filled with young wolves would be ripe for the taking when the alphas would finally show themselves and there was no way in hell she'd allow that to happen. 

Laura had never been an alpha that demanded unwavering obeisance, a fact that Derek had shamelessly taken advantage of again and again in New York. Laura was easy going most of the time, bossy and loyal to those she counted family. But she _was_ a wolf as well and she knew that for a pack to function and be healthy- the hierarchy had to be respected. 

She had made mistakes in the past, she wasn’t infallible and Derek had never been shy about calling her on them but he had also _never_ used her screw-ups as a way to challenge her authority. 

“Who wants to see me beat Derek into the woods?” asked Laura and then had to stifle her laughter at how quickly the pack shot their hands up.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm on Tumblr- shulik1. I welcome all who aren't easily startled, that like writing, art, fanfic, gay wolves, gay angels, hip hop. Everything and anything.
> 
> Also, I post snippets of upcoming chapters, talk about writing difficulties and talk about my original work.
> 
> I love people and I talk too much in any medium.


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